A property owner may believe the government has gone too far. A zoning restriction, permit denial, or development condition may appear to eliminate the property’s value or prevent any reasonable use. The owner may want to bring a constitutional takings claim immediately. But a potential taking is only part of the analysis. In a regulatory… Read more »
A property owner who receives a zoning violation notice or grading enforcement action may not be able to determine from the ordinance itself what conduct allegedly violated the law. The ordinance may contain undefined terms. An agency may apply a standard that the text does not clearly establish. The rule may also give enforcement officials… Read more »
Government regulations can restrict what a property owner may build, develop, or do on private land. Most restrictions do not rise to the level of a constitutional taking. Some, however, may go so far that they interfere with property rights to an extent that requires compensation. That raises an important question when the restriction is… Read more »
Many California property owners think of constitutional rights in broad terms. These protections can involve property rights, due process, and limits on government power. However, two constitutional frameworks may apply to these issues: the United States Constitution and the California Constitution. In many situations, the California Constitution provides broader protections. That distinction is not merely… Read more »
Government authority in the United States is not unlimited. The federal government operates within the powers the Constitution grants to it. State governments exercise broad authority, but they operate within both the federal Constitution and their own state constitutions. Local governments in California exercise only the authority state law grants to them. That structure of… Read more »
When a government official violates your constitutional rights, the harm is not necessarily addressed through the criminal system. Federal civil rights law provides a separate mechanism: a civil lawsuit filed directly against the government actor responsible. That mechanism is codified at 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Section 1983 is not a law that creates constitutional rights…. Read more »
Private property ownership is one of the foundational rights in the United States. For California landowners, developers, and agricultural businesses, protecting this right becomes critical when local or state government actions begin to compromise land use, physical access, economic value, or long-term development plans. Navigating private property rights and zoning restrictions under the protections of… Read more »
Protecting private property rights against government overreach, regulatory takings, and unconstitutional property restrictions in California. Private property rights are among the most critical constitutional protections in the United States. Under the Fifth Amendment, the government is strictly prohibited from taking private property for public use without paying “just compensation.” In California, this protection becomes… Read more »
Government agencies don’t always wait for condemnation proceedings before entering private land. Sometimes, they need access before they decide whether to take the property at all. This process is called precondemnation entry, and it raises serious constitutional questions for California property owners. Property owners have specific rights during this process that deserve close attention. The… Read more »
It’s not often that a property rights plaintiff will tell a Texas federal district judge to follow Ninth Circuit precedent on a property rights issue versus the federal government. Yet that is precisely the circumstance that several landowners face in litigation involving the federal seizure of approximately 90,000 acres of private property along the Red… Read more »
